ELECTRIC STREET LIGHTING IN EASTBOURNE (PART 1)
-INTRODUCTION-
Eastbourne is a seaside town situated on the south coast of England. At its western end it is bordered by a range of chalk hills known as the South Downs, the most famous headland being Beachy Head where the chalk cliffs stop abruptly and plunge some 600' down to the English Channel below. The history of Eastbourne as a seaside resort really starts with the construction of the railway link in 1849. Shortly after this time Eastbourne began to grow and to be laid out in the Victorian style for which it is famed today. The most important landowner of the time was the second Earl of Burlington who in 1858 became the 7th Duke of Devonshire. It was the Duke who took the lead in the control over Eastbournes development, overseeing the planning of wide tree lined streets and unspoilt seafront promenades lined with lawns and flower beds. The first of these promenades constructed in the 1860s were called Grand and Marine Parades and in the 1880s Royal Parade was added in the eastern part of the town.
The town's growth required development of the utility companies and the Gas Company was formed in 1851, the Waterworks Company following in 1859, but it was to be 20 years or more before the benefits of electricity were to be made available to the town.
- THE 1880s-
By the end of the 1870s developments in electric lighting and generation had produced the ability for electricity to compete with gas for the lighting of streets and public areas. Pioneers including Sir Humphrey Davey, William Staite and later Paul Jablochkoff had been involved in arc lamp developments and Joseph Swan in England and Thomas Edison in America had produced workable carbon filament lamps. The stage was set for enterprising individuals to light up their towns and cities with this new form of clean, reliable and safe method of illumination.
It is in 1881 that our story
starts. In this year a public demonstration of electric lighting
was held in the Floral Hall of the Winter Garden and the
adjoining grounds of Devonshire Park. The Siemens system of
electric lighting was used, the power being supplied by
generating equipment housed in the basement of the nearby
Swimming Baths. Following this demonstration a group of local men
formed the Eastbourne Electric Light Company with the purpose of
supplying electricity within the town.. The company was
registered in February 1882 and a concession was quickly gained
from the Hammond Electric Light and Power Company to install the
Brush dynamo and arc lighting system. Robert Hammond a prominent
advocate of electric lighting at the time and director of the
aforementioned company acted as a consultant and recommended the
appointment of the first engineer, Henry M. Sayers. The next step
was to enter into negotiations with the Local Board, who were the
predecessors of the Local Council, to sell the system to the
town. The plan was to illuminate Eastbournes popular sea front
parades. The negotiations were successful and during the summer
of 1882 sixteen Brush Arc lamps were erected along about a mile
of Grand Parade and Marine Parade, roughly from the Albion Hotel
to the Grand Hotel.
The appearance of the lamps was somewhat similiar to some of the gas lamps of the era, namely a six sided lantern tapering outwards and upwards from the base.The chimney however was different to that of the gas lamps and was used to accomodate the mechanism of the lamp. The most visible difference to the gas lamps was the height of the columns on which the lanterns sat, being at least twice the height of the adjacent gas lamp standards. These columns were of a fluted design and were provided with vertically staggered climbing irons that along with ladders enabled servicing and changing of the carbons.
One of the first Brush arc lamps
The lamps were switched on in September 1882 being connected in series across a 1200 volt direct current supply produced from either of two 25 light Brush Arc machines situated in the old Bedfordwell Waterworks, the Electric Light Co. having taken over the works and made use of the existing boilers. There was some spare capacity in the 'Brush Arclighters' and soon after the arc lamps were switched on groups of incandescent light bulbs were connected in series with the arc lamps and used to supply light for the interiors of a few local businesses. However this arrangement soon became a nuisance because groups of light bulbs had to be connected together so as to take the same current as the arc lamps. To resolve this problem in 1883 these business interests were supplied with their own alternating current system, with a transformer on their premises to step down the voltage to a suitable level..
The installation of the Arc lamps pushed Eastbourne to the forefront of the electrical stage, supposedley beating the switch on of the Edison Station, Pearl St. in New York by 5 hours. However, slightly nearer at hand, Brighton 25 miles along the coast had been supplying electricity from a central station since February and Godalming in Surrey had supplied both arc and incandescent electric street lighting from a central plant the preceeding year. Later Eastbourne, careful not to be upstaged detailed their claim to fame to be 'The first electricity undertaking on the South Coast to supply street lighting from a central source'.
The new lamps and generating machinery were not completely reliable and by 1883 the elected Council of Eastbourne which by now had become a ' Borough' with its own Mayor, was receiving regular reports from the Borough Surveyor and his men of arc lamps failing during the hours of darkness. It was also the case that if the arc lamps failed the adjacent gas lamps should have been lit. This was apparently not occuring.
The Electric Light Company were asked for explanations about the failures and it was agreed that a report on the subject of street lighting by both gas and electricity would be prepared by the Council. At that time the particular committee concerned was graced with the title of the 'Lighting, Lawns, Trees and Streets Committee' It was also agreed that as many Swan incandescent 40 candle power bulbs as there were gas pillars would be erected along Old Marine Parade for the committee to inspect. It was intended for the arc lamps to be switched off during the trial so that the council could gauge the merits or otherwise of the trial.
Early in 1884 a letter had been recieved by the Council from Mr H. Towner the secretary to the Electric Light Co explaining how the company was trying to rectify the lighting outages and detailed the progress on the move to the company's new and larger premises, an old brewery in Junction Rd near the railway station. It was also mentioned that the company was discussing returning the arc lamps to the Hammond Company and seeking replacements of the newest types as used at Hastings the next resort along the coast to the east. The Electric Light Company's electrician had been too busy dealing with the arc lamps to attend to the trial of incandescent lamps and this appears not to have happened.
In February the Electric Light Co. was again in dispute with the Council their electrician arguing over the number of reported failures by the borough surveyors men and casting aspertions on the fairness of the reporting. He argued that the lamps had burnt their correct amount of carbon and there had been no hitches with the supply. He did however concede that there could have been isolated failures to individual lamps.
Meanwhile the Electric Light Co.had been in discussions with the Hammond Electric Power Co. and the Anglo American (Brush) Electric Light Corporation pointing out the defects in the construction of their lamps and it wasn't long before the first two replacements had arrived and were fitted. It appears that the mechanism of the lamp only may have been changed and the lanterns remained. Some complete new lamps were ordered with almost identical lanterns and the siting of these was intended to be as follows: one opposite Lansdowne Terrace, one opposite Burlington Place, two in Devonshire Place and one at the Pavillion on the Parade. It is by no means certain that all these were erected but it was noted that the glass in the newer lamps was fluted and not favoured by the Council as the flickering of the light could distract horses. Cathedral glass was recommended for all future electric lanterns.
Any lights that were erected within the streets of the town were to have a short service life however, because in August of 1884 having considered the contract costs of the lights from the Electric Light Co. the Council decided that the seafront parade lighting would continue but the electric street lighting and post of Electric Light Watchman would be discontinued.
By May of 1885 the Electric Light Co. had moved into their new premises in Junction Rd and under the supervision of Robert Hammond (whose company had previously advised the Electric Light Co.) they were determined to make a commercial success of the investment in their upgraded plant. Among other dignataries the Mayor had been invited to the official opening ceremony and while complementing the company on its efforts, he was also careful to praise the competing gas company. He remarked on the powerfulness (2000 candlepower) of the arc lights and wondered if this power might not be reduced in order to close the spacing of the lights and hence reduce the troublesome shadows that often were a part and parcel of arc lighting installations. He also mentioned that the Council would be watchful of the price paid by the townspeople for the light. He did not comment on Robert Hammonds remarks earlier on the quality of lighting in Terminus Rd. following the Councils previous decision not to continue with electric street lighting other than on the seafront.
Seemingly not to have listened too closely to the Mayors speech, the Electric Light Company soon wrote to the Council offering to meter the electricity used by the arc lamps and charge at the rate of 1s.(5p) per board of trade unit up to a maximum of £35 per lamp per year for lighting the lamps from one hour after sunset until 11.30pm. As the present rate was £25 the council declined the offer. Note: the 1998 rate for electricity is 6.5p per unit!
While the fortunes of electric street lighting waned, in 1885,
as new roads were being built in the ever expanding Eastbourne,
more and more gas lights were being erected. The usual design of
these lights consisted as follows:- a short 10' cast iron column
made by the company of E Morris who had a foundry in nearby
Lewes, a distinguishing feature of which was the large square
base that was made to house a gas meter, necessary to measure the
erratic gas consumption by the burners of the time. A lantern,
usually of a square pattern with opal glazed roofing panels
sitting in a cradle mounted on the column. The light being
produced by a flat flame burner. Some indication of the light
output of these basic gas lamps can be guaged by the fact that it
was not always considered necessary to light them on nights
around a full moon. Usually the estate developers would supply
and erect these lamposts and the Council would agree to light and
maintain them. By 1886 there were 820 public street lamps - all
gas apart from the seafront arcs.
Electric lighting was still in vogue however and in May 1888 what was now called the Lighting and General Purposes Committee of the Council wrote to the Electric Light Co.and asked them to forward proposals for lighting another part of the seafront, Royal Parade by arc lighting as an alternative to gas. By July their proposals had been drawn up and the Council agreed to meet a deputation from the Electric Light Co.both to discuss the Royal Parade scheme and to determine the present contract for lighting Grand and Marine Parades.
One of the original square type gas lamps.
At this meeting the Electric Light Co. again asked for £35 per light per year, or alternatively a charge of 1s per unit, plus a sum not exceeding £2 per week for supply of carbons and cleaning etc. They would also light Royal Parade at this rate but only if the council would enter a 5 year agreement for lighting all the parades. They also offered to light the seafront shelters at 1s per unit plus the costs of fittings and fixtures.
The Council however had done their sums and the costs for the various options were as follows:
1. The present cost for lighting the arc lamps was £25 per year and Grand and Marine Parades were lit by 16 arcs and 59 gas lamps at a cost of £571,16s,11d per year. The new charges would raise this to £731,15s,11d.
2. The cost to light Grand and Marine Parades by 27 large and 32 small gas lamps would be £441,5s,8d
3. The present cost for lighting Royal Parade by 9 large and 6 small gas lamps was £123,7s,0d
4. The Electric Co.s proposal for 6 arc lamps and 15 gas lamps for the half of the night after the arcs were switched off, would be £250,10s,0d.
The Council pointed out that Hastings paid £30 per arc lamp and in Brighton all electric public lighting was paid for by the various businesses to promote their concerns.
Still determined that they should not be running the lamps at less than a commercial rate the secretary of the Electric Light Co. replied to the Council stating that they could not possibly light the parade lamps for less than £35 per annum and noted further that this rate left them with only the smallest of profit margins. The Council again refused to pay up and in September the Electric Light Co. offered a compromise rate of £32,10s or to light the lamps at cost plus 5%. They also pointed out the popularity of the lights with the public and how the lights had contributed to the attractiveness and advertising of Eastbourne as a holiday resort.
The Council ever watchful of the public purse would not agree to more than £30 per lamp.
In 1889 the council possibly as a concilliation gesture awarded the Electric Light Co. the contract to light the bandstand on the seafront and eight incandescent lamps were erected at a cost of 12s,6d. The electricity was charged at the usual rate of 1s per unit.
The increase in the number of new gas lamposts was maintained in the last few years of the decade and the Gas Co. was reducing its prices. The original arc lamps were still illuminated however and more and more internal illumination of properties including the new Town Hall ,was being carried out by electricity. Despite the wranglings over costs a start had been made and as time went on electricity would gradually win the fight to light Eastbournes (and every other town's) streets and public places.
-THE 1890s-
In 1891 the cost of electricity fell to 10d per unit in response to Board of Trade guidelines and in August the Council initiated an exercise in costing the various options for street lighting within the borough. the options considered were for-
1. Maintaining the existing gas lighting.
2. Strangely, converting the gas lamps back to oil lighting
3. Installing 32 new arc lamps throughout the town. The Electricity Co. themselves had ruled out electric incandescent (carbon filament) bulbs as being too expensive.
Not surprisingly gas came out as the favourite especially as their prices had also recently been reduced.
In response to a request from the Council the Electric Light Co. replied that to light the 16 parade arc lamps all night long instead of to 11.30 pm could not be done for less than £880 per year, but had they been permitted to erect more lights around the town they could have reduced the costs per lamp accordingly. Again unsurprisingly the Council decided not to change the existing arrangements.
In 1893 the question of lighting Royal Parade by 5 arc lamps these, to be replaced by 17 small gas lamps after 11.30pm was raised and agreed by the council. £30 per lamp was accepted.
By the end of 1893 it had been decreed that all new gas lamps were to have the street name fitted to the lantern and these would have to be provided by the developers if they wished the Council to maintain and light the lamps. In 1894 there were 64 large Sugg gas lamps, 932 ordinary square gas lamps with 5' burners and 39 with 7' burners. The overall cost per year, per lamp was £3.17s. 3d
In September of 1894 an additional electric lamp was erected at the junction of Grand Parade and Victoria Place and in October of that year trials were carried out with an important improvement to the gas lighting, the fitting of incandescent mantles to gas lamps in The Avenue.
The summer of 1895 saw the erection of two new arc lights one either side of the bandstand. These were different lamps and different columns to the others and were paid for by the council. They also agreed to pay the Electric Co. £7 per year for lighting during July, August and September.
During 1895/6 the Board of Trade had been addressing the problems of competing companies digging up roads and streets to lay their cabling etc and before long the Eastbourne Electric Supply Order was in force, which laid out regulations and guidelines for the safe and efficient supply of electricity around the borough. In particular it gave the local council control over who could dig up their roads.
A further arc lamp was erected at Splash Point (in Marine Parade) to close a particularly long gap between existing lamps and in May of 1897 the lighting period of the bandstand arc lamps was agreed to be extended to include June. Back in the towns streets more and more incandescent mantles were being fitted to and improving the brightness of, the town's gas lamps.
In 1897 the Council had looked at the costs they were being charged for electricity and started to consider the option of building their own electricity generating station. The advice of several consultants had been considered. An eminent electrical engineer, W.C.C Hawtayne had produced a report in 1898 making various proposals. In this report he outlined the present state of the street lighting and made suggestions for the future. At that time the town was lit by 25 arc lights of 2000 cp, 638 incandescent gas lamps of about 30 cp, 73 double incandescent gas lamps of about 60 cp, 2 triple burner incandescent gas lamps of 90 cp and 400 ordinary gas lamps of about 16 cp.
By the end of the decade the Council had decided that rather than compete with the Electric Light Co. and duplicate cables and machinery, the best option was to offer to purchase the undertaking and after detailed negotiations this was completed on January 1st 1900, bringing all electricity generation in Eastbourne under the control of the Town Council.
-THE 1900s-
In April of 1900 W.C.C Hawtayne had prepared a further report for the Council entitled 'The Improvement and Development of the Municipal Electricity Supply Works at Eastbourne' Various recommendtions were made, one of which was the establishment of a brand new generating plant at Roselands. In those times this area was to the East of most of the towns development and the prevailing winds would carry the smoke away from the town. It was here that the Councils Refuse Destructor Works and sewerage Air Compressing station were already sited and it was thought economies could be gained from pooling the outputs of the boilers from the power station and the heat from the Destructor Works to power the air compressors.
By this time the only electric street lighting was still the 23 arc lamps plus the two bandstand arc lamps during the summer months. These were still running off the original Brush machines. The report discussed whether the existing arc lamps could be altered to run off the new low tension mains or whether new fixtures would be required. The extension of arc lighting into the town was still being considered by the Council and the report estimated that to light Devonshire Place, Terminus Rd, Victoria Place and Grove Rd would require 38 additional lamps. It was proposed that as Devonshire Place was particularly wide the lights would be centrally suspended on span wires supported on poles erected either side of the street.The remaining lamps would be hung on ornamental overhang brackets fitted to ornate cast iron columns.These lamps would replace 33 incandescent gas lamps, 30 ordinary gas lamps and give ten times the light output. Estimated cost was £1,500. In his earlier report of 1898 Hawtayne had suggested for the first time the the use of electric 'Glow Lamps' (incandescent carbon filament bulbs) for street lighting in Eastbourne. In the latest report he revisited this idea and proposed altering 997 gas lamps to take 2 x16 candle power glow lamps and 53 to take 2 x 32 candle power lamps. These would be centrally controlled from 7 or 8 switching centres.
In May the report was presented in person to the Council, it was accepted favourably and most of its recommendations were to be carried out in the following years. On the street lighting issues it was agreed that Hawtayne and J.K Brydges( who had been appointed as the first Electrical Engineer for the Borough) would carry out a trial of the electric incandescent lamps in The Avenue for the Council to evaluate. The Council committee members considered visiting Brighton, Watford, Canterbury and Harrow to inspect their lighting systems.
Later the same month Brydges submitted to the lighting committee a specimen Prism Globe as made by the Prism Globe Co. which was to be used to surround the electric lamps. A sketch was also shown describing a fitting used when adapting existing gas lamp posts. The cost of a complete fitting with an 8 inch globe, 12 inch enamelled reflector and special 25 candlepower tubular lamp was 44s,4d. The committee resolved that one fitting should be fixed to the lamp post on the corner of Elms Avenue and Grand Parade. For some reason The Avenue had lost favour as the trial site.
In August, after waiting for the relocation of a lamp post, three of the sample fittings had been fitted in Elms Avenue and the Lighting Committee had reported on their findings, namely that the trial was not satisfactory and the lamps should be disconnected at once!.
Despite this set back as far as electric street lighting was concerned, the arc lamp lighting of the town was definitely to be renewed and extended and tenders were sought from suppliers.
The new arc lamp columns were to be supplied by J and A Law of Glasgow. They were of a much more ornate design than the previous colums and the bases were designed to accomodate raising and lowering gear for servicing the lamps. Heavily decorated, half round wrought iron brackets were to be fixed to the columns giving a 4' overhang to accomodate the new hanging lamps. Delivery was imminent in May of 1902 and relaying of the granolithic slabbing along the Parades was delayed until the siting of the posts was agreed. It was initially proposed to erect all new columns along the Parades at 80 yard intervals, the existing columns would be removed, altered to accept drop lights and used elsewhere in the town. The cost of 68 new posts and brackets was £1,158.11s.10d.
The new lights were made by the Gilbert Arc
Lamp company of Chingford and were designrd to run off an
alternating current supply. They had been used in Hastings,
Harrogate, Blackpool and Tunbridge Wells. In appearance they were
more like a classic arc lamp than their predecessors with a
cylindrical housing for the operating mechanism and wiring
connections and a large teardrop shaped opal glass globe. They
were large lamps of the double carbon type, taking overall 6' of
carbon, this gave a burning time of 40 or so hours. To make use
of the existing cabling, the Seafront Parade lamps were to be run
off two series circuits supplied from constant current
transformers whose primary coils were supplied at 2,200V. These
transformers were housed in a transformer room built under the
Upper Parade. The lights in the town were to be connected in
parallel across the new 200v distribution mains being installed
throughout the town, each lamp requiring a step down transformer
to give the correct voltage at the lamp.
The new generating station had meanwhile been built at Roselands and the first supply from the new works commenced on June 10 1902. For a while both works existed in tandem as mains were swapped over and machinery was commissioned and decommissioned respectively.
By August of 1902 the first Gilbert lamp had arrived and as a trial was mounted on the existing column near the Pier using a post top mounted carrier bracket, also included was an automatic time switch. Alterations to the bases of the existing columns were considered to house the transformers and winch gear necessary for the in town street lighting but in the end this was decided to be unfeasable and a decision was made to remove and offer for sale all the old columns and lamps.
A Gilbert arc on cast iron column and half round bracket.
In the 1890s it had been discovered that by adding chemical salts as cores to the carbons of arc lamps not only could the brightness of the light be improved but the colour could also be altered to a degree from its normal bluish white hue. The Council requested prices for the fitting of the proposed parade lamps with carbons that would produce a yellowish arc and as a trial the new lamp at the pier was fitted with the different carbons.
The total number of lamps along the Parades was to be 33 and by October 1902, 27 had been erected. Columns still to be erected were two near the bandstand and one near the Wish Tower. A new column was to be erected at the Wish Tower and the two existing columns that were to remain either side of the bandstand were to have an alternative design of lamp fitted.
All the columns that had been delivered from Glasgow had been erected by December and a sample post had been mistakenly painted in two shades of blue. The Council later agreed on two shades of green - olive and moss green.
The new parade arc lamps were switched on for trials on 3 Jan 1903 and on 6 Jan the Brush Arclighter machines at the old works were shut down for the last time. This also enabled the complete and final shutting down of the Junction Rd works.
Most of the new columns were fitted with the
half round overhang brackets as originally intended giving a
mounting height of 17 feet to the centre of the arc, although a
small number were fitted with central carrier brackets similiar
to that used on the trial lamp at the pier. Two lamps near the
bandstand were mounted on combined lighting and ventilating
columns that had been supplied complete with raising and lowering
gear by Messrs Allen Senr & Co. The centrally suspended lamps
in Devonshire Pace were hung from span wires strung between
columns that were taller but similiar to those supporting the
street arcs. The existing two columns either side of the
bandstand still had their original post top carrier brackets as
opposed to the half round overhang brackets and these were still
awaiting their lamps when the rest of the parade lights were
switched on.
Span wire arcs in Devonshire Place.
The lighting of the new arc lamps throughout the streets of the town ( now numbering 63) was completed in February and they were switched on to coincide with the official opening of the Roselands works on 17 Feb 1903.
The arc lights were still switched manually and soon after the switch on problems were found with the parallel connected lights in the town, it was found necessary to fit a new type of switch so that the operator could not get a shock when lighting or extinguishing the arc.When this had been completed the duty of switching the lights was handed over to the same men who switched on and off the gas lamps throughout the town. It soon became clear that this extra task was taking longer than anticipated and it was decided that the extinguishing times of alternate lamps would be brought forward to commence at 11.00 pm instead of 11.30pm.
A few years earlier a new type of electric lamp had been developed by a Prussian, Walther Nernst. This was neither a normal electric incandescent filament lamp or an arc lamp but was more akin in principle to an incandescent gas lamp. In an incandescent gas mantle the heat of the gas flame causes chemicals impregnated onto the mantle to glow and emit a greater light than the flame itself. in a Nernst lamp the 'filament' is made of chemical oxides that produce light when heated by the flow of electricity. However at normal temperature these oxides do not conduct electricity and a seperate heater is needed to start the flow of electricity through the filament, consequently the lamps take a minute or so to reach full brightness. Nernst lamps were more efficient and had a longer life than the normal carbon filament lamp and for a while had their uses in public buildings or for street lighting. In April of 1903 the Watch Committee of the Council had approached the Lighting Committee asking for two Nernst lamps to be erected, one opposite Burlington Place and one opposite Hartington Place, to provide some lighting on the Lower Parade. This was agreed and they appear to have been placed in the arches over the steps in these locations.
The end of 1904 saw the Council asking the Electrical Engineer to produce a report on his recommendations for street lighting by Nernst or other electric lights and the costs thereof. Following this in April of 1905 a number of fittings were installed on gas lamp posts in Orchard Rd, some contained Nernst 16 cp lamps and others used a fitting made by the Reason Manufacturing Co. These Reason 'G' fittings were a glass bowl with two saucer shaped reflectors either side of a central stem. In front of each reflector was a 30 watt incandescent filament bulb the light of which was directed along the street by the reflector. Also, the middle arc lamp in adjacent Grove Rd was fitted with a flame arc and in May tests were carried out as to the effectiveness of these new fittings and comparisons were made with nearby gas lighting in Arlington Rd. The Reason 'G' fittings came out as superior and the Nernst lamps were replaced with 3 more 'G' fittings. The cost at the time was 30s per lamp'
In the summer of 1905 discussions took place regarding the
fitting of double arm brackets to take incandescent electric
lamps to 3 arc lamp columns in Terminus Rd and to alternate
columns in Seaside Rd. between the Albion Hotel and Victoria
Place. The idea being to replace the arc lamps by filament lamps
after 11.30 pm. During the following year this was costed and
estimated to save £130 per year if all the street arcs were to
be altered. The seafront series connected lamps could not however
be modified without the laying of additional cabling. It was
agreed that all the arc lamps should be modified and a large
number did seem to have the brackets attached, mounted half way
up the column.
Reason 'G' fitting near St Mary's church
A summary of the arc lighting at the end of 1905 would be as follows:- 31 series lamps installed along the seafront, 63 parallell connected lamps installed in Terminus Rd, Grove Rd, South St, Gildredge Rd, Cornfield Rd, Devonshire Place, Seaside and Seaside Rd. Of these 51 burnt all night and 43 were extinguished between 11 and 11.30pm. three of the all night and two of the half night lamps were metered and the readings avereaged.The Council paid the electricity department £22 per year per lamp. Each lamp consumed an average of £3. 4s worth of carbons per year.
The gas lighting of April 1906 comprised 1,205 lamps with single burners, 96 with double and 1 with triple burners, totalling 1,302 lamps. Automatic controls had also been fitted to lamps in the Ocklynge area, thus dispensing with the lamplighters duties.
A further trial of flame arc lighting was carried out on the seafront in 1906. They did give a brighter light but did not burn as steadily as the normal carbons and the trial was discontinued. In October or November of the same year one of the incandescent brackets fitted to the arcs in Seaside Rd was adapted to take the Osram metal filament lamps. This gave an improved light and one of the 'G' fittings in Orchard Rd was also adapted. ( The Osram lamps of that time had a filament made of Osmium and Tungsten and were different to the plain tungsten filament bulbs of today. The name however continued to be used).
During 1907 the span wire arc lamps across Devonshire Place were equipped with raising and lowering gear to simplify maintenance. Following on from this, the arc lamps that were hung from central carrier brackets had not been easy to maintain as the lamp had to be taken down from the carrier for servicing or trimming and like in Devonshire Place this had necessitated the use of a tower ladder. During 1908 these lamps were equipped with a new type of canting carrier bracket that could tilt the lamps forward and down to be lowered, although they did look a bit tall and bulky compared to the originals. Also during this year the Electrical Engineer again looked at the available flame arcs but concluded he could not recommend a particular type as they were constantly being improved. A proposal to extend the arc lighting in Seaside from the Kings Arms to the Archery Tavern was considered.
It was also in 1908 that the local police were first instructed to report any arc lighting failures on their beat.
In November of 1909 three new street lamps in Kings Avenue had been wired up for electricity and automatic switching had been provided.
-THE 1910s-
January 1910 saw the Council further considering the use of electric filament lighting and drawings were shown of designs for double and multiple arm brackets for attaching to lamp posts. However in February a proposal to place a metal filament lamp at the bottom of Hartington Place was deferred and the existing gas lamp was upgraded to a double burner instead. Despite the installation in Kings Avenue it was still the norm to erect gas lamps on new roads and more were erected during the year.
Within a few weeks a trial metal filament lamp was installed, this time in The Avenue and following the now customary inspection by the members of the Electricity and Street Lighting Committee it was decided that two trial lights would be erected along Seaside between the Kings Arms and The Archery. These lamps were in service by 5 Sept and were considered a great improvement on the gas lamps. In December these lamps were uprated from 80 to 100 cp. This form of electric lighting, much more subtle than the glaring arc lights, was beginning to be noticed by the residents and early in the new year the residents of Cavendish Place had written to the Council proposing this form of lighting be installed in their road. Meanwhile other interested parties had also taken an interest in the new lights and the Gas Company wrote a strongly worded letter to the Council complaining that their gas lights in Seaside had been disconnected without their knowledge. No doubt the Electrical Dept. was spoken to and the Council reassured the Gas Co. that this would not recur. In Hampden Park an area north of the main town the Electricity Dept had also been busy and 23 electric lamps had been installed in streets around the Park. Because of the distance from the main area of the town a local man was recruited on a part time basis to check and service the lamps.
1911 was also the year of the Coronation of King George V and the decorative aspect of electric lighting had been shown with good effect in the erection of illuminations in the main streets of the town, all helping to raise the profile of electric light as regards to gas.
The arc lamps throughout the town had now been in service for about 10 years and the Council accounts show that more frequently the Gilbert Arc Co were charging for providing spares and repairs for the lamps. Also arc lamp technology had improved with the advent of reliable Flame and Enclosed arcs. As stated previously flame arcs produced a more luminous arc and colours could be introduced, but in enclosed arcs the carbons burnt within a small glass globe within the outer main globe, this restricted the oxygen around the arc and although they gave out slightly less light, the burning time to an equivalent open lamp could be increased by up to five times.
As shown by the various trials around the town the Electrical Engineer had been keeping abreast of developments and in late 1912 tenders and samples were requested for the replacement of the 99 Gilbert lamps throughout the town and seafront. The existing cast iron columns still had another 50 or more years life ( 4 still survive today) and these were to be kept.
By January of the new year samples had been received and in the following weeks trials were carried out of the 'Oliver Magazine' lamps, 'Excello Flame' lamps and German 'Sunshine' enclosed lamps. By April the Council had accepted a tender from the a firm called The Electrical Co.for the supply of 99 of the Sunshine lamps for £820.15s. As time would prove this was not to be a particularly efficient use of the ratepayers money and the Gilbert lamps could well have been left to die a natural death after the war. The German origin of the lamps was particularly unfortunate at this time and there was even some debate as to whether the Council should honour some of the final payments during the onset of hostilities as it was thought the suppliers were partly financed by German capital.
The initial electric lighting in Hampden Park had left some isolated gas lamps sandwiched between electrically lit areas and these were converted to electricity in this year. This prompted the Gas Co. who by now were showing concerns over the progress of the electric light to again write to the Council expressing their dismay at the conversions, especially as they had incurred considerable expense in laying mains to the area.
A large number of the new arc lights were
received in the summer of 1913 but they had all been delivered
with the wrong lamp casings. During July, 24 had been exchanged
and these were in the process of being erected. In appearance
they were not as attractive as the Gilbert lamps, the large
teardrop shaped globe of the old lamps was replaced with a
narrower cylindrical globe that flared out at the top and it
never really looked right for the lamp.
'Sunshine' enclosed arc.
September of 1913 saw discussions taking place about providing 2 new arc lights to illuminate Carlisle Rd between the Seafront and Devonshire Park. The Electricity Dept. only had one cast iron column in stock and it was agreed to site this at the Devonshire Park end and at the Seafront end it was planned to centrally suspend the arc between the two steel poles that had been used in the trial in The Avenue.
Although there was no large scale side street lighting by electricity, the use of the Reason 'G' fittings had increased and Hampden Park now had a healthy number of electric filament lamps. A proportion of the arc lamps had had their filament lamp brackets fitted and by the end of 1913 there were 68 incandescent electric streetlights in operation.
By the middle of the decade E.
Morris seems to have been superseded by another Lewes founder
J.Every, as the supplier of the normal short side street cast
iron lamp posts. Although the fluted shaft remained, albeit
slightly less decorative it was probably about this time that the
distinctive large square base was replaced with a more shapely,
rounded and slightly convolute design. This was because by now it
was only gas lamps that were automatically controlled by time
switches that the Gas Co.insisted on metering, all other lamp
charges were based on burning hours and gas consumption agreed
with the Council. The new posts were provided with a single
ladder bar on the right hand side with the door facing, as were
the previous columns (although a small number of Morris columns
had double bars). Presumably this was because if the column was
erected on the kerb as was the case in those days, the door would
be on the pavement side so as the lamp fitter climbed the ladder
on the pavement side, he would hold the post with his left hand,
leaving his right hand free to do any work
'Morris' type square base.
'Every' type rounded base
The lighting of the eastern end of Seaside was raised again in early 1914. A gas lamp had been removed following drainage works in the area and the Electricity Dept moved swiftly to erect a single arc lamp in its place at the corner of Seaside and Whitley Rd. This resurrected plans to extend the arc lighting from where it finished at the Kings Arms, in an easterly direction towards the Archery. A cautious first scheme proposed 6 lamps with a minimum distance between lamps of 103 yards. This was considered to be too great and 2 further lamps were added to the scheme. Second hand columns were to be used for the scheme but when these proved to be unobtainable a central span wire scheme was considered but rejected in favour of a side column mounted installation. As it transpired it was to be some time before a complete lighting system was installed in this area.
In June the 99 old Gilbert arc lamps were purchased along with some old meters for the sum of £59.12s. 6d by J.Hyans of The Old Kent Rd. London.
Whether the new arc lamps were too bright for their own good, whether people now preferred the less intense filament lamps or whether concerns about the war were being felt, in the latter part of 1914 the Electricity Dept. had been asked to look into ways of shielding the light from the seafront arcs. The management of the Queens Hotel had certainly written to complain of the glare from the lamp opposite the hotel restaurant. It was decided to be unfeasible to shade the lights and it was suggested that groups of filament lamps could be substituted in a suitable enclosure, although this was not to happen.
As well as the threat from possible airship raids and bombardments from offshore ships, the onset of the war necessitated economies throughout the Country both in the use of fuel and materials and of course labour and these conditions were bound to impact on the use of the public lighting of the time. Eastbourne was no exception and in December of 1914 it was decreed that in all cases where the street arc lamps had incandescent brackets fitted, then only the bracket lamps would be used until further notice, the arcs being extinguished. The span wire arc lighting in Devonshire Place was also to be reduced. By January the gas lighting had also been drastically reduced with some 420 lamps taken out of service since December and all the double burner lamps had been reduced to single burner operation. The following month the seafront parade arc lamps were extinguished pending the next Council committee meeting. For a while the Council and hence the ratepayers were still liable for the standing charges and a large proportion of the running costs as all the arcs were cleaned and lit two days a week in daylight hours to maintain them in a fit state should they be required. The charge for this was eventually agreed at £2.2s per week Any remaining street lighting was by now extinguished at 11 pm and the charges were adjusted accordingly. The only arcs left in service at this stage were three of the five in Devonshire Place.
Ten percent of the cost of the unlit 'Sunshine' lamps was still owed at the end of 1915, amounting to £80.6s.4d. The Council were now using a legitimate reason for not paying, namely that 58 spare globes had not yet been supplied. The suppliers the Electrical Company had said they had placed an order with an English glassware firm but they were having trouble supplying the goods. They requested the Council take over this transaction and asked for a final settlement of their account.The Council refused stating payment would be made upon delivery of the globes. However by April the Electrical Co. had gone into liquidation and the globes were finally obtained from the liquidator for 7s 6d each.
Feb 1917 saw a new electric street lamp fitted at the Lamb Hotel corner and an outbreak of globes being smashed on the unlit lamps in Hampden Park led to 14 of the fittings in the most prominent sites being removed to the stores.
The Electrical Engineers report in August mentioned briefly the public lighting, recording that 102 arc lamps and 110 incandescent lamps were connected but owing to the war no arcs and only a small number of incandescent filment lamps were in use.
The Chief Constable saw to the application of the Government laid down war time lighting restrictions and in October of 1917 he was able to ask the Electricity and Street Lighting Committee to light an additional 50 lamps for the winter period. All but two of these were gas lamps and to light this many lamps spread over the town would require at least 6 lamplighters.To reduce this number the Committee suggested this should be reduced to 26 lamps along the bus routes not already lit between the Railway Station and Ocklynge and Old Town and the Town Hall and Meads. The restrictions in force at the time dictated that all lamps should be extinguished within 10 minutes of an air raid warning. This would have been impossible with the gas lamps over such an area, however of these 26 lamps all but two had electricity mains running past them. If these were adapted for electric lamps using the existing gas lantern then switching would be simplified and the costs would be kept low. The Electrical Engineer said the work would take 3 weeks and the cost would be £85. This was agreed and the 26 lamps were converted. Due to concerns about pedestrian safety on the footpath on the Upper Level Drive in Meads Rd, three lamps here were also converted.
The public were increasingly frustrated by the lack of lighting and were frequently requesting lights to be re-lit, usally to be refused. A further lamp in North St. outside the public conveniences was converted and re-lit and a list of a further 41 gas lamps to be converted to electricity was drawn up as follows:-
The Chief Constable could not agree to the additional lamps being re-lit, but the lamps were converted to electric operation, although they were to remain switched off until the easing of the lighting restrictions allowed their lighting.
These war time conversions did not use the Reason 'G' fittings but utilised the original gas lantern as mentioned before. A short piece of pipe was mounted where the gas pipe would have entered the lantern and an electric lampholder was fitted to the top of this pipe, the bulb plugging into this with its base at the bottom. This was a quick and cheap solution but the filament bulbs of the time were really designed to burn with their base uppermost, thus enabling the heat to rise to the neck of the bulb and be conducted away through the lamp base cap and fitting and thereby increasing the life of the bulb. Later conversions were to see the piece of pipe being formed in a small swan neck shape, still contained within the original lantern, but enabling the bulb to hang down rather than point up.
In May of 1918 shortages of coal and resources still necessitated stringent economies and during the week of the full moon the electric lighting had been switched off. Further savings were suggested by not lighting the lamps during the period from May 20th to 1st August owing to the long hours of daylight. This was put into practice.
November 1918 saw the end of the war and an easing of the lighting restrictions. Half of the pre war lighting was now permitted and masking and sheilding that had been applied to the electric lamps was removed and the light output returned to normal. Any light visible to the sea however still had to remain shielded. To comply with the half lighting guidelines it was agreed that the arc lamps would remain extinguished but any incandescent brackets fitted to them would be illuminated.
The gas lamps that had been taken out of service could not be so easily returned to use as they required testing and maintenance before operation. There was still a severe shortage of manpower and the Gas Co. had no staff to carry out this work. A timely suggestion was put forward by Councillor Hoadley that was to put the final nail in the coffin of the town's gas street lighting.
His suggestion was that to overcome the problem of restoring the gas lights they should ALL be converted to electricity if an adjacent mains cable was available. This practice had already been adopted by Brighton and Hastings and the Electrical Engineer was briefed to report on the possibility.
J.K Brydges duly reported in December that the mains cables passed by 426 gas lamps and by running cables across to the other side of the road another 230 could be reached. The conversion costs would be £3 per lamp or £6.10s if a road crossing was needed.He was authorised to proceed at once with the work
March of 1919 showed the street lighting still to be far from back to normal. Usually only alternate lamps were lit and these would be extinguished at 11 pm. On the seafront the lights on the Lower and Middle Parades were allowed to burn all night as it wasn't cost effective to switch them off. The practice of turning the lights off on moonlit nights was discontinued following instances of some gas lights being switched on unnofficially by the public and also owing to the costs of using the lamplighters on cloudy or bad weather nights to relight the lamps.
In connection with the gas to electric conversions a tender for 300 street light switches from W.C.Lucy and Co was accepted.
Having escaped any damage during the war ( there were no raids on Eastbourne!) in February of 1919 one of the cast iron arc lamps in Grove Rd was demolished by an ambulance and because no matching column was available, one of a different design from stock was erected in its place.This had happened before where additional arcs had been erected and some had been mounted on plain iron or steel poles. Sewer ventilating columns were also sometimes used to support electric lamp fittings.
In April it was agreed 4 arc lamps near the bandstand could be re- lit, but only while the band was playing.
The Board of Trade lighting restrictions were lifted by May of 1919 but economies still necessitated lamps being switched off for years to come.
The Gas Co. meanwhile were having problems maintaining sufficient light from 6 lamps in Seaside between Fort Rd and The Lodge Inn and although there was no electric mains in the area a small cable was laid for some 600yds so that these lamps could be electrically lit.